1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192 
THE PALLET NETWORK
Page 51
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Bedfordshire Freight Services (BPS) has recognised the benefits of collective strength, and so it has become a member of The Pallet Network (TPN).
"We joined TPN three years ago. We cover its Milton Keynes area; its hub is at Rugby, just off the M6. We pick up pallets from the customers and take them to the hub," explains general manager Colin Circuit.
Pallets are picked up locally by one of the company's four rigids. After consolidation at the depot they are placed into a curtainsider and transferred to the TPN base. Canny planning is important in the push to maximise profits. It is a cliché, but in road transport time is money. Downtime eats into profits. To help combat this, BPS strategically places one of its trailers at a customer's site.
Circuit explains: "We have a customer who has a standing [BPS] trailer in place. This customer, a label maker, fills up the trailer during the day. We bring it back to our base for 6pm, by which time it is half full of palletised labels.
"Then, the other half of the trailer is filled with pallets. The truck leaves at 7.30pm for the hub: the journey takes an hour and a quarter. The trailer is unloaded and reloaded by The Pallet Network staff, We bring the trailer back and redistribute the pallets."
TPN has 78 members spread across the UK and the Irish Republic. Managing director Adam Leonard says operators join the network in one of two ways. "People approach us, or we approach them; sometimes we target a firm in a particular area."
Operators aspiring to become a TPN member must meet the following
criteria, he says. "We like them to be financially viable, and have a capacity for growth and development. The focus is on quality, the abilityto deliver. That is what the network's about."
It is difficult to get the set-up exactly right in these networks, he goes on, because circumstances constantly alter. "It is an everchanging feast; you cannot stand still."
TPN invited BFS to join the network. Leonard says pallet organisations do have their limitations, because "some bits of freight are not network-friendly", but he predicts that they are likely to grow.
BFS joined the network three years ago. At that time Hobbs's firm was part of another pallet organisation. TPN. he recognised, was expanding, so he ceased trading with the existing network and joined Leonard.
• www.thepalletnetwork.co.uk